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Harbinger Vol 1 1
| Series = Harbinger | Volume = 1 | Issue = 1 | Date = | Previous = — | Next = | Event = | EventPrevious = | EventNext = }} Children of the Eighth Day Appearances Featured Characters: * ** ** ** ** ** Supporting Characters: * Villains: * ** *** *** *** *** ** ** ** Toyo Harada Other Characters: * Dave Locations: * ** *** Peachtree Place ** ** *** Holmes-Standard Textile Mill * ** *** Eberhardt's Auto Salvage ** *** Moonlight Motel *** United States Post Office * Items: * [http://www.comics.org/issue/50177/ Flaming Carrot Comics #27] Vehicles: * Kris Hathaway's Car * Torque's car Credits * Pencilers: * Inkers: * Colorists: , (as The Knobs) * Letterers: * Cover Artists: (layouts), (touch-ups), (inks), (colors, paint) * Editors: * Editor-in-Chief: }} Synopsis June 2, 1991: Peter Stanchek and his girlfriend Kris Hathaway are on the run from the Harbinger Foundation. Peter believes a helicopter is following them, so he makes Kris' car fly up and forces the chopper to land. The pilots insist they are being paid by a man in the FBI to catch drug dealers. Suddenly Peter and Kris are attacked by three Harbingers, Eel, Lump, and Weasel. Peter throws Weasel into the woods with telekinesis, then uses telepathy to disable Lump. Lump gets up and Peter throws Kris' car at him, destroying it. Eel threatens to kill Kris, but Kris punches her in the gut. Peter grabs Kris and they fly away until they find a motel. They remark that flying is much more draining and exhausting than it seems, like riding a motorcycle without a helmet. Despite having no money since Kris lost her purse in the car explosion, Peter uses telepathy to convince the clerk to let them have a room. Kris remarks that she does not like it when Peter uses his "Jedi mind trick." They pass out exhausted. June 3, 1991: During breakfast the next morning, Peter and Kris discuss an ad for the Harbinger Foundation in the local paper. Kris says she feels bad for the kids sent to hurt Peter, since Harbinger manipulates them by convincing them they're the good guys. Peter realizes that since people write application letters to the Harbinger Foundation, they could theoretically help people by intercepting these letters. They break into the local post office and steal every letter in the Harbinger Foundation's box. June 4, 1991: Peter and Kris visit the home of Faith Herbert, one of the likely candidates. Faith is found to be an overweight sci-fi nerd, and she gets angry when she assumes Peter and Kris are there to embarrass her. Peter explains how the Harbinger Foundation is evil, and then looks into Faith's mind to determine if she is telling the truth. He finds there is nothing special about her and they leave. Moments later, Faith surprises Peter and Kris by flying into the street. Apparently Peter's psychic probing unlocked her latent powers. Faith insists on following them, and she quickly packs a giant trunk including her own superhero costume. She tells Peter and Kris that her new superhero name is Zephyr. They return to the Moonlight Motel, but they're forced to leave when they spot police looking for them. June 5, 1991: The three teenagers attempt to sleep in a van parked in a junk yard. Zephyr asks if she can huddle with the others for warmth, but Kris refuses to share her boyfriend's bed with another girl. The two argue angrily until Peter uses his powers to calm both of them down. He quickly stops and apologizes, saying he just wanted them not to fight, but Kris is furious at him. Kris reminds Peter that he promised to never do that to her again, she views it as evil, and she will kill him in his sleep if he does it another time. They discuss their plans. Kris says they are going to keep finding people like Peter and Faith, build a team or maybe an army, and eventually take down Harbinger's leader Toyo Harada. June 6, 1991: Peter attacks a Harbinger Foundation office in Atlanta, Georgia. He recruits a young woman named Charlene DuPre who was there to apply, marked "Class A" by Harbinger. Harada's assistant Todd Bevins confronts Peter and tells him that he's going down a dangerous path. Bevins insists that the Harbinger Foundation wants to help him, and they are only Peter's enemy if he makes them one. Peter tells Bevins he makes him sick and throws him aside. Peter returns with Charlene to the abandoned mill where they're hiding. Charlene tells them to call her Flamingo since everyone does. She explains that Peter activated something in her head, and now she has fire powers. Flamingo quickly burns off her clothes in a demonstration, and Zephyr goes to find her a new costume. Flamingo insists that she only wears pink. Zephyr also decides to begin calling Peter "Sting" after the pain caused by his telepathic probing. Kris is vocally annoyed that so far Peter's only recruits have been women, referring to them as "the rest of the harem." The papers Peter stole from the Harbinger office in Atlanta lead them to a mechanic named John Torkelson, nicknamed "Torque." Torque is only listed as a "Class D" subject, and Peter thinks he's not worth investigating. Despite this, Flamingo convinces Torque to follow them, and they agree since he has a car. The five teens have a cookout together in the abandoned mill with food supplied by Torque. Flamingo aggressively flirts with Torque, but Torque ignores her to flirt with Kris instead. Flamingo attacks Kris, insisting that Kris is jealous of Flamingo's interactions with Peter. Peter tears the two fighting women apart with his powers. He then accuses Torque of being a spy for Harbinger, and probes his mind to find out. This enrages Torque, who angrily picks up his car to throw at Peter and discovers his powers have been unlocked. Peter apologizes to Torque and says he didn't realize the kind of rough childhood that Torque had. Suddenly a Harbinger helicopter arrives and the entire group is attacked. There is one Harbinger operative with super-strength present who battles Torque, and a team of soldiers battle the others. Flamingo takes out the Harbinger. Zephyr flies into the helicopter and discovers a man meditating, who she attacks. Kris is knocked unconscious. Sting deals with the soldiers shooting at his friends, then pulls Zephyr out of the helicopter and makes it explode. In the aftermath, they hear Bevins try to reach them over one of the soldier's radios. Bevins explains that there is no going back, and they are now officially at war with Harbinger. Sting says he doesn't know what to do, while holding the injured Kris. Torque replies that they go find the people responsible and rip their throats out. Notes * This issue is reprinted in the trade paperback ''Harbinger: Children of the Eighth Day'' (1992) and the hardcovers ''Harbinger: The Beginning'' (2007) and ''Valiant Masters: Harbinger: Children of the Eighth Day'' (2015). * This is the first original comic published by Valiant Comics not based on a licensed property. * This issues contains the first of six mail-away coupons that could be redeemed for an exclusive pink copy of that was made available by end of 1992. The coupon also has the first of six parts of the ''Story of Harada'' printed on it. * This story takes place directly following the events of , which was published later as a prequel. * Faith Herbert is seen to own a copy of [http://www.comics.org/issue/50177/ Flaming Carrot Comics #27]. * Toyo Harada is mentioned in this issue. He originally appeared in the pages of Solar, Man of the Atom. * Thumper appears as the Harbinger who battles Torque in the group fight scene, but she does not receive a name until next issue. Quotes Gallery Cover Art File:Harbinger Vol 1 1.jpg|'Regular Cover' Harbinger Vol 1 1 Textless.jpg|'Textless Cover' Panels Atlanta Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Eel Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Faith Herbert Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Faith Herbert Harbinger-v1-1 002.jpg Flamingo Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Flamingo Harbinger-v1-1 002.jpg Flamingo Harbinger-v1-1 003.jpg Flamingo Harbinger-v1-1 004.jpg Harbinger Foundation Ad Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Harbinger Resistance Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Kris Hathaway Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Kris Hathaway Harbinger-v1-1 002.jpg Kris Hathaway Harbinger-v1-1 003.jpg Lump Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Martha Herbert Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Sting Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Sting Harbinger-v1-1 002.jpg Thumper Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Todd Bevins Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Torque Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Torque Harbinger-v1-1 002.jpg Weasel Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg Zephyr Harbinger-v1-1 001.jpg 199110 HARB 1 monk-1.jpg Zephyr Harbinger-v1-1 002.jpg Related References External links